Westfield vs. Chantilly Game

Westfield Rallies, Wins 6th Straight
By B.J. Koubaroulis
Special to The Washington Post
Wednesday, February 13, 2008; E05

Westfield senior forward Willie Snow's days of anonymity may have officially ended last night.

It's hard to stay under the radar when you score 18 points and collect six rebounds and two blocks to lead your new team to a 57-49 home win over Virginia AAA Concorde District rival Chantilly.

Snow, a 6-foot-3 transfer from Paul VI Catholic playing just his fourth game for the Bulldogs after becoming eligible earlier this month, helped Westfield recover from a 14-3 first-quarter deficit.

Westfield sent its three leading scorers -- seniors Maurice Hubbard, Jamie Richardson and Jon Gaston -- to the bench after they picked up two fouls apiece with less than three minutes left in the opening period.

But Snow made two of his three three-pointers in the first half and then combined with Richardson for 14 points in the third quarter to spark a 21-8 run that put the Bulldogs up 38-35 going into the fourth quarter.

"I just waited for my opportunity," said Snow, who said he transferred to Westfield at the end of last year and that his transfer cleared him for play this semester. "I love the big games."

The addition of Snow could have an impact on the Northern Region postseason, but Bulldogs Coach Doug Ewell says he wasn't concerned with when his new player arrived, just so long as he did.

"I don't know much about it," Ewell said of Snow's transfer. "I try to stay out of all that stuff. All I know is that he became eligible this semester. He came to practice not guaranteed anything and he still came to play."

No. 14 Westfield (18-2, 10-1) won its sixth straight and overtook No. 12 Chantilly (18-2, 10-2) for the inside track for the top seed in the upcoming Concorde District tournament.

Chantilly, which was led by Justin May's 28 points, had its winning streak ended at seven.
Westfield can clinch the top seed and accompanying first-round bye with a win at Herndon (11-8, 6-5) on Friday.

"I reminded them of that," Ewell said. "No championships were won tonight. It would be bad if we lost focus and didn't play hard Friday night."

Westfield outscored Chantilly 40-22 in the second half as Hubbard added seven points and Richardson took over, scoring eight of the Bulldogs' final 19 points.

"With everyone struggling, it was great to see [Snow] do that," said Richardson, who finished with 19. "A secret weapon? Not anymore."

No. 14 Westfield 57 No. 12 Chantilly 49

Being Defensive: Chantilly, which entered the game as the Concorde's top offense, scoring 69.8 points per game, was stifled by Westfield's defense, which kept the Chargers below its average of 50.3.
Enter Snowman: Westfield senior Willie Snow earned the nickname "Snowman" during yesterday's win. "We call him a lot of things," teammate Jamie Richardson said.